Lyr Req: Down In Florida on a Hog (Darby & Tarlton

Subject: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: GUEST,marthabees
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 04:35 PM

I'm trying to understand Darby and Tarlton as they sing "Down In Florida On A Hog", a song supposedly about Florida land speculators in the 20's. Even though though I am a GRITS girl, I can't understand them. (Girl Raised In The South, Florida actually)

I have searched many MANY places online for the lyrics before coming to this amazing group to plead for assistance.

Any help?

Thanks,
Martha

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 04:43 PM

We have the expression in Maine "helpless as a hog on ice" but there is evidently no connection with Florida, let alone land speculators.

If it were a wild hog like a razorback (such as they have in Texas) the expression might imply a wild time.

"Eating high on the hog" implies one is rich, which might be closer to the meaning in the song.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Peace
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 04:44 PM

Martha, I'm finding it often entitled "Way Down in Florida on a Hog". I cannot access many of the sites for another few hours. I will look further then.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Peace
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 04:51 PM

Also, don't know if this will help, but Bob Dylan did it and the lyrics are in "Chronicles" (don't know which one beacuse it seems thare are two books).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Peace
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 06:16 PM

Cannot find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 08:23 PM

Texas:

As handy as hip pockets on a hog [If a Texan says this, it's a compliment (honest!)]

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: Lyr Add: DOWN IN FLORIDA ON A HOG (Darby & Tarlton
From: 12-stringer
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 08:54 PM

Nothing discernible to do with Florida land speculation. It's a hobo-jailhouse version of "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad." Tom and Jimmie both knew a little about jailhouses and freight yards, much less of Florida land hornswoggles.

Way down in Florida on the hog, oh, babe,
Way down in Florida on the hog
Way down in Florida on the hog,
And I shan't be treated this a-way.

Remaining verses are just like this. Tom usually sings "Oh, baby" at the end of the first line but never on the repeats. There's some variance between verses as to whether Jimmie comes in on the second or third line with the high harmony.

Good girl, you done done me wrong

Way down in jail on my knees

Feed me on cornbread and peas

Thought I heard that lovin' Frisco blow

Blowed like it never blowed befo'

Goin' back to sweet old Birmingham

[2 choruses of guitar]

Way down in Florida on the hog

Good one, you done done me wrong

Way down in jail on my knees

Feed me on cornbread and peas

Recorded by Darby & Tarlton for Columbia in Atlanta, 9 April 1927 (their first recording). Label calls it "On a hog," though to my ear it sounds like Tom is saying "on the hog," a hobo term for riding the rails. Easier to hear when the verse is repeated, after the guitar parts.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: GUEST,marthabees
Date: 17 Jul 07 - 09:35 PM

12-stringer,
That's the one!
And your version of the hobos (hoboes?) makes good sense to me. The land speculator comment came from a source who may/may not have actually known what's what.

Thanks a lot!!

Martha

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Charley Noble
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 08:51 AM

12-Stringer-

Thanks for nailing this one, although the false leads were getting interesting!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Wesley S
Date: 18 Jul 07 - 09:05 AM

That's a new one on me but I'll add it to my songbook. And I'm a "Brits" - "Boy raised in the South". Florida actually - on the west coast.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Charley Noble
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 08:44 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida On A Hog
From: Stewie
Date: 19 Jul 07 - 08:05 PM

12-Stringer,

From the notes in book accompanying Bear Family box set of complete Darby and Tarlton: 'In 1920-24, Tom traveled to Florida to see if the boom that was going on there would rub off on him. As he tells it, "I'd go from here to town to town and around. I played the Florida boom. While I played the Florida boom, I composed this song called 'Down in Florida on a Hog'" ... While Tom did put this song together and explains that "on a hog" refers to living high on the hog, the song is nevertheless clearly a version of "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" ... The melody related to a whole family of tunes including "KC Railroad" or "KC Moan" that includes both black and white tradition. It is interesting to note Tom's reference to Birmingham. Throughout the Darby and Tarlton repertoire, they make references to Birmingham. There is no indication that Tom was ever in the city'. [Note by Ed Kahn]

Also transcription in the book gives 'Good one, you done done me wrong, oh babe' rather than 'Good woman ...'

Tarlton also recorded the piece solo among recordings made for Gene Earle, the then President of the John Edwards Memorial Foundation, in 1963. It remained unissued until a CD was released in 1998: Jimmie Tarlton 'Steel Guitar Rag' HMG/Hightone Records CD 2503.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida on a Hog (Darby & Tarlton
From: GUEST,Joseph Scott
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 03:53 PM

Tom Darby wasn't a reliable source of information. His I-wrote-it-while-I-was-way-down-in-Florida-and-"hog"-has-to-do-with-"high-on-the-hog" stories remind me of e.g. Ledbetter making up random stuff about "Red Cross Store."

Byrd Moore recorded an unreleased "Way Down In Florida On A Bum." Zora Neale Hurston (born in 1891 in Alabama) remembered the floating blues lyric "I'm way down in Florida on the hog." Peg Leg Howell (born in 1888 in Georgia) sang "I was down in Cincinnati baby on the hog/I'm down in Cincinnati baby on the hog/I'm drinkin' muddy water, sleep in a hollow log." Chuck Perdue's notes to a release by bluesman John Jackson state, "'On the hog' is a hobo expression... and it means 'in a
bad way financially'...." Cassell's Dictionary Of Slang, "hog": "... the world of tramping. [abbr. of ON THE HOG (TRAIN)...."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Down In Florida on a Hog (Darby & Tarlton
From: leeneia
Date: 10 Aug 16 - 07:00 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIilpCMo95k

That's a YouTube of Darby & Tarlton singing the song. Sure sounds old-fashioned!

They are singing 'I can't be treated this-a-way.' Not shan't.